


Late Night Conversations

by YancyPants



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, barely but it's there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 03:55:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15721476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YancyPants/pseuds/YancyPants
Summary: Jack gets caught in the Jacobs home after hours while Esther is on her evening laundry collection. This is the resulting confrontation.





	Late Night Conversations

**Author's Note:**

> You know when you have an idea that just sort of grabs you and you have no idea where it came from but it won't leave you be until you deal with it? Yeah, that's what this is.

Jack scrambled to get out of Davey's bed when the room's doorknob began to rattle. It took him more time than it normally would have only because he was focused on not waking David who had fallen asleep somewhere near an hour ago. Following a couple chaste kisses and hushed conversation earlier in the evening, Davey had mentioned needing to study and pulled out a book full of numbers and triangles that made Jack's head spin so he'd left Davey to it without much interruption. Sometime later, Davey had started nodding off and chose to use Jack as his pillow, his thumb sandwiched between to pages of his textbook. That was how they stayed until the moment of Jack's panic. Even so, Jack didn't fancy his chances of claiming innocence should any one of the Jacobs find them so close together, especially since he had supposedly left for the lodging house hours ago.

Having situated Davey on his pillow, Jack only had time to unlatch and push up the bedroom window before Esther Jacobs walked in with a half-filled laundry basket perched on her hip under her arm. 

"David dear, I need your clothes for Sarah to...wash..."   


Esther trailed off at the sight of Jack flush against the window sill, eyes wide, chest heaving. 

"...Jack?"

"Mrs. Jacobs! I can explain I swear," Jack replied in a tight whisper knowing he had no explanation ready whatsoever.   


Gently, Esther closed the door behind her letting it latch with a soft click so as not to disturb her son who was, surprisingly, still sleeping beneath his school book. She placed the basket against the door's base and shoved a few loose articles of clothing in the space between the door and the floor. Jack was too caught up in watching her and thus missed any opportunity to bolt before she turned around to speak with him. 

Rising from the floor, she stood and straightened her clothes before walking. Her pace was even and her bare feet made only the lightest taps as she moved to take her seat on the stool David had on the far side of his room. She crossed her legs, adjusted her skirts and placed her hands in her lap, waiting for Jack to begin.

Jack tried not to fidget under her gaze but the longer the silence stretched on the more he felt compelled to say something, anything.

"We wasn't doin' nothin' ma'am." Well, anything but that. 

Esther's eyebrows ticked up and Jack shivered at the uncanny resemblance between mother and son. If that resemblance was more than skin deep, and Jack suspected it was, Esther wouldn't be satisfied until he supplied a better explanation than that.

Think fast Kelly.

"So I know I was 'sposed to head back after dinner." Esther hummed an affirmative. "And I did I swear, but—" Jack stopped himself to collect his thoughts.

"But...?"

Jack bit his lip and cast his gaze to the floor. He shifted his weight to his right leg and grabbed his left arm with his right hand. Maybe it was his imagination, but he could feel his heartbeat under his palm the moment he relented and began to speak.

"Well, I ain't seen mucha Davey since he's been back in school n'all ya know? N'don't get me wrong I'm glad he's back to gettin' all of that learnin' and such but it feels like I ain't seen him in months and what with talkin' to Les and Sarah over dinner and helpin' your husband with the dishes, it felt like I missed a chance to really catch up with Dave. So I doubled back and snuck in through the window to talk."

"Just to talk?"   


Jack swallowed at the memory of Davey greeting him with a peck on the cheek as he gathered himself from tumbling in through the window. He'd turned his head to catch Davey's lips against his own with a sly smirk that Davey rolled his eyes at while he mock-shoved Jack back through the window.

They did talk after that. Jack about how the newsies were getting on, how adamantly they saved his illustrations from the papers, and Davey about how difficult school was getting, how stubborn Les had become about avoiding his homework. From English essays to Racetrack's rate of cigar consumption, they spoke about everything they could think of in hushed tones under the light of Davey's bedside lamp.

Jack figured it would be in his best interest to leave out anything prior to that. And any of the other intimate moments thereafter.

"Yes ma'am." 

Esther nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off Jack. Beside her, Davey shifted deeper into his pillow muttering something that sounded suspiciously like Jackie and by the sheer fact of her being a mother Jack was certain Esther had heard him.

Jack clenched his teeth to keep his heart from leaping out of his throat. His body froze despite his blood racing through his veins, no doubt saturated with adrenaline that made his head pound and his ears ring. Scenario after scenario of outrage and accusations bombarded his thoughts as he watched Esther regard her son in silence. Silence that was beginning to sound a lot like chaffing handcuffs and rat claws scraping at the concrete floor of a dark, damp jail cell.   


In his internal panic, Jack had missed that Esther had turned her attention back to him.   


"Jack dear," she whispered for what must have been the second or third time. "Jack. Look at me, please."

He did. Esther looked soft, like an old fading photograph, backlit by the lamp and highlighted by the moon outside. She had loosened her hair so that now it fell a bit past the base of her neck. Jack watched it sway ever so lightly in the evening breeze. 

"Now I need you to tell me the truth." Jack stiffened but gave a curt nod. "You weren't just talking to David, were you?" 

The words clawed their way out from behind Jack's teeth. 

"No ma'am. I wasn’t." 

Esther nodded.

"Now you don't have to go into detail, in fact I'd prefer if you didn't, but am I right to assume that what you _were_ doing would get the both of you in trouble if anyone found out?"

"Yes ma'am." 

Esther nodded again. She stared at Jack long enough to make him feel the urge to fidget and shift his position once more; he stood up tall and clenched his fists at his sides until his knuckles turned white.

Jack all but heard his stomach drop when Esther closed her eyes and dipped her head. She stayed that way far too long for his liking but he couldn't bring himself to move or interrupt in any way. The both of them were quiet enough for Davey's light breathing to be the sole noise in the room.

Finally, Esther lifted her head and stood up from the stool with her hands clasped together just under her bust. Jack flinched as she stepped toward him, but the soft, almost piteous smile on her lips kept him rooted to the spot.  Once she was close enough, Esther took Jack's fists in her hands and held them against her chest, lightly pressing them against her sternum as she began to speak.

"I know that you don't need me to tell you this, but what the two of you are doing is dangerous, _very_ dangerous. Do you understand?" Jack gave a bemused, cautious nod. "Good. Now while I'm not pleased that the both of you went behind my back, I know why you did. But I’m asking you to never do so again. I need you to know that you can trust me."

She continued on from there and the near back-breaking tension Jack had built up began to subside. His shoulders dropped and his teeth parted, giving the muscles in his jaw a chance to slacken. His posture loosened until he was slumped against Esther with his face on her shoulder as he took deep steadying breaths. Esther put her hand on the back of Jack’s head and fed her fingers under the brim of his cap.

"You're safe here, Jack. So long as you're in this house you’re safe. I promise you that." 

Relief left a trail of goosebumps over Jack’s skin. Esther's words, Esther's embrace, all of it meant so much more than he was ready or able to process but everything he felt manifested in a soft bordering on desperate, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me Jack. Just please _please_ be careful. I couldn't bear to have anything happen to you, to either of you, all right?"  


"Of course, Mrs. Jacobs"

"And treat him right." Esther's tone brokered no argument. "I find out you hurt him, in any way, and I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life. Do I make myself clear, young man?"

"Clear as day, Mrs. Jacobs," Jack said pulling back to make eye contact with her.

Esther nodded "Good."

For lack of anything else to do Jack nodded too. "I'd best be headin' out now...the fellas are prob’ly worried 'bout me."

"No. You're staying here until the morning."

The speed of Esther's response stopped Jack in his step back toward the window.  


"'Scuse me?"

"It's far too late for you to be wandering around outside." Jack opened his mouth to protest the idea of him wandering anywhere in a city he knew better than himself, but Esther held up a finger to silence him before he could. "I don't like the idea of you going back by yourself at night. Those boys have lasted this long without you, they can wait until sunrise for you to get back." This time Esther waited for Jack to reply but he was past the point of arguing, a bit too shocked to try in all honesty. "All right. Now I'm going to tell Mayer you'll be staying with David tonight."

"With...Davey?" Jack pointed, almost certain Esther wasn't being serious after the night's revelation.

"Yes. Can I trust you to behave—" Esther asked glancing briefly toward Davey who snorted a bit into his elbow "—or do I need to fix the living room for you to sleep there?" 

"No ma'am, best behavior I swear." Jack's face burned. Of all the outcomes he'd pictured for the night, promising not to do anything untoward to Davey at his mother's request was not one of them. 

"Thank you." Jack got the feeling he wasn't meant to say you're welcome in reply. "I don't have any extra clothes for you to sleep in but I'm sure I can find you a pillow to use and a blanket if you'd like."

“You done more than enough already and I don't wanna keep you from gettin' any more sleep tonight."

"If you're sure..."

"Absolutely." 

Esther parted after that, removing the clothes from underneath the door and collecting the few articles Davey had accumulated throughout the day. She took the time to kiss her son's forehead and give Jack a silent good night. The door closed after her with a soft click.

Of course, that was enough to finally rouse Davey. Not the hushed conversation, not the lamplight directly in his face, but the door latch. Jack, still leaning against the window, chuckled while Davey lurched upright in his bed. His textbook clattered to the floor when he yanked his hand out to run it through his hair in confusion. The subsequent thud caused Davey to jerk again and yelp. What a sight he made, hair tousled, eyes wide, sleepshirt twisted around his torso; Jack felt his heart stutter. He pushed himself away from the wall and over to Davey so he could calm him down. Unfortunately, Davey hadn't noticed Jack was beside him and jumped out of his skin when Jack's hand fell on his shoulder.  


"Holy— Jack!" Jack bit back whatever clever response he felt bubbling up at Davey's exclamation. It wasn't the time. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night! If someone comes in and sees you we'll be—"  


"We're fine Davey don't worry ‘bout it," Jack said. He slid back into the bed setting his shoulder flush against Davey's.

Davey turned to face him and blinked. "We're _fine?_ "   


"Yep."

Eyebrows ticked up askew, Davey squinted at Jack, a silent demand for further elaboration.

"Your mother came in t’get your clothes and we, uh, talked." 

"About...?" Jack followed the motion of Davey's hand rolling into an open palm.

"You'n'me. Us—" Jack hesitated as Davey's pallor began to dull. "—bein' together." 

Exhaustion coupled with pure incredulity forced Davey backward into his pillow. He put his arms over his eyes and produced the most hollow laugh Jack had ever heard. 

"You all right there, Dave?"

"No."

Not sure of what to do with that, Jack simply frowned and let Davey linger in silence until impatience got the better of him. At least Davey didn't shy away when Jack leaned in to pepper kisses on his folded arms.

"How," Davey paused to take a deep breath. "How angry was she?"

Quiet was not a word Jack ever associated with Davey. Reserved, yes. Internal more often than not. But quiet? Never. Not even in his sleep. So his muted wavering query struck an unnerving chord, crushing Jack under the gravity of Davey's assumption.

"All right here's the deal, Davey," Jack said, opting to provide a serious recap of the night's events. He kept his voice soft and low so that it resonated in his chest, the way he would when any of his younger newsies had needed comfort and physical reassurance. Jack Kelly made for an excellent comfort pillow. At some point during his play by play, Davey had moved to put his head on Jack with his ear over Jack's heart. Sure enough, Davey's own heartbeat slowed to a healthier rhythm soon after.  


"See? No mad mothers, nothin' to worry about. ‘Least not for tonight eh? No tellin' 'bout tomorrow."

Davey hummed as Jack's fingers slid through his hair. "Thank you, Jack.”

Jack took that for all it was meant to say and kissed Davey’s forehead in reply. He knew that wouldn't be the end of Davey's warranted fretting, but it would have to do for the night.

They stayed quiet together for a moment. Jack felt himself close to sleep again until Davey started to wriggle in his arms. He looked down to find Davey staring at him with a small furrow in his brow.

“What?”

“The fellas are gonna give you hell for stayin' over without warning them."  


Jack shuddered. "Don't I know it. Race'll skin me alive before I even get a foot in the door."

"Extra extra, paperboy pelt found draped over the circulation gate of lower Manhattan." 

Jack gave it a moment. "You proud a' yourself for that one?"

Davey could only manage a snicker in reply. Lucky then that Jack was too tired to do anything but join him. 

"All right, jackass we should call it a night. I wanna get some actual sleep before folks try to ring my neck in the morning." 

"I'll protect you," Davey hummed, eyes closed, words a bit slurred. 

"My hero," Jack mumbled into Davey's hair as he tucked his would be protector under his chin. 

Jack pulled the chain on the lamp and blinked as moonlight flooded the room. Levity aside, he took in the feeling of holding Davey close. Each breath, growing slower as he fell back to sleep, gave Jack the distinct notion that while things might not be easy they would be okay, that he and Davey would be all right in the end. They'd be safe. 

Jack drifted off in the comfort of Esther's promise.


End file.
